Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-05
DAILY HERALD.
WANTED.
Japhet in Search OF a
Cottage.
THE SCARCITY OF ROOMS.
Over Two Thousand Apartments
in Course Of Construc-
tiOn.

tiOn.
A stranger Of somewhat limited in
come arrived in this city few weeks
apo and announced his intention O
making it his future home. Impressed
by the general signs Of activity observ
able everywhere he made up his minc
that Los Angeles was the city fol
which he had been looking, and enter
tanned serious thoughts of sending fol
his family. Being Of ordinary intelll
gence he succeeded in obtaining a sit
uation which paid him moderate in
come, and rs long as he was able tt
visit at the residence OF a relative he
was troubled by no dreams OF being
forced to sleep on the ground with
nothing over his head but the sky.
It is needless to state that at the pres
ent time he has serious doubts as tc
whether he will be able to reside IN
this city, and has almost come to the
conclusion that he will accept a posi-
ton at smaller salary in city where
he can have roof over his head. AS
soon as his mind was made up that
he would make this home and that he
would send for his small family, he
determined to rent a cottage at some
place convenient to business.
n IS n
affairs, this appeared to be simple,
matter, and one morning he started
forth bravely, deciding to
confine his search to the
streets contiguous to the business
center. Selecting Fort street as his
first choice he assembled Temple street
and started on what he thought was to
be short journey. Walking rather
slowly he examined every house in
search of the sign
"TO LET"
The remarkable absence of such bits
of paper was what attracted his atten-
tion, and by the time he reached
Tenth street he came to the conclusion
that the houses were not 80 vacant as
he imagined. On his return he
searched both sides OF Hill street with
the same luck, and gradually working
his way westward between Tenth and
Temple he came to the outskirts by
nightfall and not house could he find
that was vacant. The next day he
ssraversed the territory east of Spring
street to the river and when the even
ing had settled he was still houseless.
For four days he searched for house
on all of the byways and lanes,
and at the end of that time he
was no nearer to the accomplishment
Of his desires than when he started.
Thinking perhaps that he might find
something by advertising, he inserted
m advertisement as follows in all oi
the daily papers:
VTyANTED-A COTTAGE OF FIVE OR
w six rooms Any one having such te
rent will confer favor upon humanity by
addressing p. o. Box 7o6.
Thinking that one insertion would
be sufficient he paid for it and re-
turned to his work and waited COM
placently for an answer, which he
thought would arrive the next day.
His hopes did not materialize and he
came to the conclusion that he would
advertise for week, which he did.
In all of that time not one answer was
received and he began to despair until
another idea entered his brain. This
was that if he could not find a house
he might find rooms, for he remem-
bered seeing numerous signs Of
''RooMs TO RENT"
A second time he started out, only
to find that his hopes had been with
out foundation. In many instances
the signs meant that rooms might be
for rent at some time IN the future.
In some houses there was but one
room vacant and that on the inside
and held at high price. Since he
could not get family f four
into one inside room very well, these
rooms would not suit, and he contin-
ued his search still further. In all OF
his search he found only one suite of
rooms that were at all available AID
the price for it was SO large that after
paving for them out of his salary he
would have had nothing left with
which to pay board. Seeing that fur
ther search in this direction was use
less, and having observed number of
buildings containing rooms in the pro-
cess of erection, he conceived an opin-
ion that perhaps he might be able to
engage rooms for the future, and ever
since that time he has been trying to
find three or four rooms at rent
which will be at least reasonable, but
up to the present time he has not
succeeded.
As a result of his researches in the
city he has come to the conclusion
that there are not enough small OF
large houses in the city, that there are
not enough rooms for the
people who are here even at the pres
ent time, and that room rents in
the new buildings in course Of
of construction are entirely too high
Having been in several cities of a
much larger size than Los Angeles
and having observed the prices, he
says that it is useless for person tc
come to Los Angeles with the idea
that even with larger salary be
can live within his means. He does
not blame the owners OF property fol
obtaining as large percentage on the
Investments as possible, but at the
same time he has expressed the
opinion that it would be just as vel
for the community if more none,
were invested in
COTTAGES AND HOUSES
And less in speculation in unimprove,
land.
There is no doubt but the attention
of capitalists has been drawn to tn
lack OF housing facilities in this cit
and efforts are being made t
remedy it AS quickly as pos
sible. One gentleman recent
built twelve four-room cottages whicl